IS MLS GETTING BURNED BY DALLAS MARKET? ATTENDANCE LAGGING

          MLS attendance dropped 8.5% for its first six games,
     "primarily because of a sharp falloff" for the L.A. Galaxy,
     according to a TAMPA TRIBUNE report.  MLS is averaging
     19,452, down from 21,272 for its first six games last
     season.  MLS Commissioner Doug Logan: "We're very, very
     pleased with the condition we're in" (TAMPA TRIBUNE, 3/25). 
     But Logan did express concern with the 11,103 who attended
     the Burn's home-opener in Dallas: "We're not pleased with
     the results in Dallas.  Last week we spent four times the
     amount of money in media (advertising) than we did the year
     before" (Peter Brewington, USA TODAY, 3/25).  In Dallas,
     Steve Davis writes the league "remains handcuffed to mammoth
     football stadiums" and "changes have been slow-going." 
     While the Burn called the Cotton Bowl a short-term solution,
     there are few alternatives.  Davis writes that SMU will
     construct a 32,000-seat facility that would "be a prototype
     for MLS," but SMU's AD Jim Copeland said a partnership isn't
     "feasible" since the school prohibits non-collegiate events
     attended by more than 16,000 (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 3/25).
          AH, CAIRO, JEWEL OF THE NILE! MLS's DC United will make
     the first appearance by an MLS team in Africa when it plays
     Egypt's Al-Ahly club in Cairo on May 5 (AP, 3/25).